Gary Evan Stevenson (1955)
}} Biography * 99th Apostle of the LDS Church * 14th Presiding Bishop of the LDS Church Gary Evan Stevenson is an American religious leader and former businessman who is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Stevenson was appointed to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in October 2015. Stevenson is currently the fourteenth most senior apostle in the church. He served previously as the church's Presiding Bishop and was the fourteenth man to serve in that position. He has been a general authority of the church since 2008. Stevenson was born in Ogden, Utah, and was raised primarily in the state's Cache Valley area. Stevenson was an LDS Church missionary in the Japan Fukuoka Mission in the mid-1970s.3 After this, he attended the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University where he met his wife, the former Lesa Jean Higley. They were married in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple and have four sons. Prior to his call as a general authority, Stevenson worked as the chief operating officer of ICON Health & Fitness. He has also served on the Marriott School of Management National Advisory Council and the Utah State University Foundation Board. LDS Presiding Bishop In the LDS Church, Stevenson has served as a bishop and a counselor in a stake presidency. He served as president of the Japan Nagoya Mission from 2004 to 2007. Stevenson became a member of the LDS Church's First Quorum of the Seventy at the April 2008 general conference. During his time in the Seventy, Stevenson served both as a counselor and as president of the church's Asia North Area. On March 31, 2012, he was released from the First Quorum of the Seventy and sustained as the church's Presiding Bishop. Stevenson was released as presiding bishop six days after he was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve and was succeeded by Gérald Caussé. LDS Apostle In October 2015, he was sustained as an apostle and member of the Quorum of the Twelve. As an apostle, he is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer and revelator. He was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve along with Ronald A. Rasband and Dale G. Renlund, filling vacancies created by the 2015 deaths of L. Tom Perry, Boyd Kenneth Packer (1924-2015) and Richard G. Scott. This was the first time since 1906 that three new apostles were sustained. They are the 98th, 99th and 100th members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the church's history. Apostolic seniority is generally understood to include all 15 ordained apostles (including the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles). Seniority is determined by date of ordination, not by age or other factors. Historically, if two apostles are ordained on the same day, the older of the two is typically ordained first. However, in October 2015, three apostles were ordained at the same time. In that instance, Stevenson, who is younger than Dale G. Renlund, was sustained and ordained prior to Renlund, placing Stevenson in a senior position within the Quorum. See Succession to the presidency and Heath, Steven H. (Summer 1987). "Notes on Apostolic Succession" (PDF). Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. 20 (2): 44–56.. Teachings of Elder Stevenson * General Conference Talks of Elder Stevenson - LDS.org References * Elder Stevenson - Mormon Newsroom * Bishop Stevenson - 2012 Liahona